Roger Stone, a longtime GOP operative also known as an ally to former President Donald Trump, was evidently recorded discussing the potential assassination of Reps. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) and Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), both outspoken Democrats who have been prominently involved in efforts to hold Trump accountable. The alleged remarks, as published by the news outlet Mediaite, date to before the 2020 elections.
Some are saying that Stone should be imprisoned in connection to the comments. “He should be in jail,” former GOP congressman Joe Walsh said. Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a professor and columnist, was similarly succinct. “He should be in prison,” she said. Both remarked as such on X, the platform formerly called Twitter. Stone, who has been close enough to Trump that he was among the recipients of Trump’s final rounds of clemency actions taken as president, initially denied the legitimacy of Mediaite’s allegations, which preceded the site publishing an evident recording.
Notably, there’s already a very recent precedent for criminal action following threats to Swalwell himself, with a man from Florida recently arrested and charged with leaving threatening voicemails targeting the Congressman and his children. Authorities claim the defendant outright asserted in these messages that he would kill Swalwell and Swalwell’s children. One of the alleged messages consisted of just the name of an individual invoking right-wing conspiracy theories about Swalwell asserting he’s secretly aligned with Chinese interests because of a past incident in which he himself was targeted by an individual suspected of Chinese espionage ties. Indications are that Swalwell was cooperative with federal authorities in the U.S. once made aware!
Republicans have run with the connection anyway, and upon the party taking its control in the House after the 2022 midterms, Swalwell was even pushed out of his role on the House Intelligence Committee. Stone, meanwhile, was once charged before with offenses including witness tampering and lying to Congress.
